Hello, During the late 1959-60 time period, we were moving on from the stock car class drag racing division with the 58 Chevy Impala to our new project of an SBC motor in a 1940 Willys Coupe. Now, with the addition of the solid trailer hitch on the back, the 58 Impala was designated as the tow car for the Willys Coupe when we had to take it to the muffler shop, parts supply warehouse and speed shops in our area. But, the weekly Drag News papers always had stories and results from the Midwest area dragstrips, along with news from elsewhere. So, we were intrigued about this 55 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop that normally we would see other versions cruising on the Bixby Knolls streets. It was one of the first Chevy hardtop sedans that was setting speed and E.T. records in the Gas Coupe/Sedan Classes at various places in the Midwest. If we ever saw it out West, they would be in our B/Gas or C/gas class as a competitor. So, we were paying close attention. The Midwest records were also causing other b/gas and c/gas competitors out west to take notice, too. There were back and forth ads in the Drag News stating claims of speeds and e.t. runs certified or not. So, it was building up to be an interesting year in 1960. We had a friend that ran a 56 Chevy Bel Air hardtop in the stock classes until he got wind of more power in his SBC motor, so in the increments over the months, he went to a 283, then a 301 to boost his horsepower and winning stock body cruising and racing. But, at the time, no one was using a stock body Chevrolet sedan body and making big time runs that amazed everyone. Jnaki My brother and I saw this 55 Chevy Bel Air for the first time at the 1960 March Meet and it did sound pretty good. We were in the midst of adding on a 671 supercharger and completely rebuilding our motor with all blower spec parts. The designations were still A/Gas, B/Gas and C/Gas. Whether or not anyone was running a supercharger. But some dragstrips began separating the race cars with superchargers into their own division of A/Gas Supercharged or A/GS, B/GS, C/GS designations. Note: The stock bodied racer was impressive to say the least. The name Mike Marinoff was in the history books for this time period of drag racing and the ever popular Gas Coupe and Sedan Class racing. Mike Marinoff 1955 Chevy Bel Air
The Jalopy Journal
